Thomas Sumner

All Stories by Thomas Sumner

  1. Climate

    Warming could nearly double rate of severe La Niña events

    Changing climate in the western Pacific could roughly double the frequency of severe La Niña events that cause extreme weather shifts across the globe.

  2. Planetary Science

    Young asteroids generated long-lasting magnetism

    Pockets of iron and nickel in meteorites suggest that asteroids in the early solar system produced magnetic fields for much longer than once thought.

  3. Earth

    Faulty thermometers exaggerated western U.S. mountain warming

    Defective thermometers used in snowpack and ecology research overstated warming in western U.S. mountains.

  4. Climate

    Warming climate will force airlines to shed weight, increase costs

    More frequent hot days coming with climate change will require airlines to reduce aircraft takeoff weight.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Allergy-related Google searches follow pollen season ups and downs

    Google search queries could help researchers track pollen seasons in areas without pollen-monitoring stations.

  6. Climate

    Stalled global warming linked to North American drought

    Strong Pacific Ocean winds blamed for the global warming hiatus also boosted the odds of severe drought in the southwestern United States.

  7. Earth

    South Napa earthquake revived bone-dry streams

    The South Napa earthquake freed groundwater trapped in nearby hills, revitalizing previously dry streams.

  8. Climate

    Super typhoon shoved supersized boulder

    Typhoon Haiyan pushed a 180-ton boulder, the most massive rock ever seen moved by a storm.

  9. Oceans

    Alcatraz escapees could have made it safely to shore

    Detailed simulations of the San Francisco Bay suggest that three prisoners who escaped from the prison on Alcatraz Island in 1962 could have made it safely to shore.

  10. Planetary Science

    Year in review: Tectonics active on Europa

    Jupiter’s frozen moon Europa has a shifting exterior analogous to Earth’s plate tectonics.

  11. Earth

    Year in review: Life thrives under Antarctica

    Thousands of microbe species thrive in Lake Whillans deep beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet.

  12. Planetary Science

    Solar wind probably leaches Mars’ lower atmosphere

    Initial results from NASA's MAVEN probe may help explain how Mars has lost its atmosphere: The solar wind penetrates the Red Planet’s atmosphere and fuels escaping gas.